Day 1 - Being a singer songwriter can be lonely, but I’m headed to collaborate with talented friends for 7 days, as I give myself a winter music vacation in sunny Philadelphia, a city that’s been my musical home away from home for the past 4 years. I’m recording at @Studio1935philadelphia and playing a little set at @fergiespub to cap it off on Friday night and celebrate the release of our version of Chuck Berry’s Promised Land. An American journey in microcosm, a tale of overcoming one obstacle after another to get at your dreams.
I popped up at 6am on a Saturday (which took some doing) to a clear wide open sky and the crystal blue Hudson River. It’s the same start as my normal commute to a job I love, but it sure was sweet to cruise right by my everyday workplace and over the George Washington Bridge to the Jersey Side. I snuck a few peaks up those majestic Palisades. It soon got a bit apocalyptic as those whiter than white massive plumes of fumes in the armpit of America became visible. Gimme a second to close this vent over here. Whew, just in time, that’s better.
There’s Newark Airport, the site of my first ever ride on a jet airplane. And New Brunswick, where I was born and my dad paid his way through college at Rutgers University. There it is, the East Brunswick exit, where I lived ‘til I was 7. Can’t drive past the Trenton exit without longingly thinking of DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies, and the supreme anachronistic confidence of that bridge sign, What Trenton Makes The World Takes. I sure did. My father born and raised, and his father, my namesake, a gas station garage owner right there where Washington crossed the Delaware. You’ve seen the painting. It’s one of those smooth rides where you just hit cruise control and let the music take you. On a side note, Siri is not very good at taking this kind of dictation but she got real crafty when she accidentally started playing the Neil Nathan cannon. She must’ve thought, I’ll indulge his narcissism and he’ll forget all about my secretarial incompetence. Well played Siri. Anyways, It seemed appropo to listen back in time as I get set to release over 30 tunes in the next few years!
Driving over the Betsy Ross Bridge, taking in that striking Philadelphia skyline, certainly a more curated viewing experience than the volatile Manhattan I was once accustomed to. Seeing things with fresh eyes, and enthusiastic ears, getting ready to knit something quintessentially American and undoubtedly influenced by England, my other home away from home.
